Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, Matt Northrup

When: Sun., Aug. 25, 9 p.m. 2013

How Far Away is the second album from Alex Bleeker, perhaps best known as the bassist in Real Estate. Like that band, Bleeker's music with his Freaks is often muted and wistful, prone to gentle trots and sleepy-eyed murmurs. But the sweet-and-sad songs of How Far Away add some gusto, leaning forward with wallop on the country-rock of "All My Songs" and "Step Right Up." For the pleading soul tune "Time Cloud," Bleeker drifts through a haze of electronics, a crooner lifted into a neon sky by his feelings.
&mdash Grayson Currin